JFC Library’s Theme for April “Japanese Martial Arts”

This month the theme in the JFC Library will be “Budo –Modern Japanese Martial Arts”, in which the Samurai spirit still lives on.

Budo evolved from the traditional martial arts. During the civil war period (before 10 century ago) the killing techniques was necessary for getting ahead in life. But from beginning of the peaceful times during the Tokugawa Shogunate (17th -19th century), martial arts are turned into an essential education which was fused with the ancient spiritual culture (thought and ethics) among the warrior class.

With the fall of the samurai regime, during the Meiji era, killing & wounding was prohibited by modern law, furthermore, the status system was abolished. So the Japanese martial arts were practiced to discipline the mind and body rather than to win or lose as in other sports..

Today when we say “Budo”, it includes not only the traditional martial arts but also new martial arts created on the basis of the old one and popularized after the Meiji Era.